This painting is a quarter-length portrait of a young woman, dressed in sumptuous gold and purple dress, with a white lace mantilla over her head. There is a double string of pearls around her neck and her right hand is resting on her breast. The painting should not be interpreted as a specific portrait (although Andreotti may well have used a specific model), rather as an idealised type of Salon beauty; as implied in the title of the image.

Henry Parkinson (1855-1938) worked his entire life at the Victoria Mill, eventually rising to chairman of the board and also becoming chairman of the Blackpool Central Pier Co. He was active in technical education, and in 1918 founded the Accrington & District Historical Association. He was one of the most generous benefactors of the town, donating books, photographs, not to mention paintings, under the pseudonym ‘Accrington Friend and Well-Wisher.'